The invention refers to a display device, particularly a liquid crystal display, having two support plates which are parallel to each other and between which a medium which can be switched between two optically different states is enclosed, and having an outer spacing frame as well as a plurality of spacing elements between the support plates, the elements being held in a fixed position by adhesive. The invention also concerns a method of manufacturing such display devices.
In the case of large-area and/or thin-wall liquid crystal displays, important characteristic data such as the switch behavior or the threshold voltage are very dependent on the thickness of the liquid crystal layer between the support plates. Liquid crystal displays are already being constructed today in which the distance between the support plates is less than 10 .mu.m. In order to be able to satisfy such high demands on the precise distance between the support plates, it is not sufficient to bond the support plates to each other solely at the spacing frame, but, rather, spacing elements must be provided also within the visible region.
From Federal Republic of Germany OS No. 28 49 402 it is already known to arrange spacing elements at given places in a liquid crystal display, said elements being bonded to the two support plates at the same time as the bonding of the spacing frame. The spacing elements are fixed symbols which, therefore, can be arranged only at very specific places in the visible field of the display device. However, it has been found in practice that, particularly in the case of large-area display devices, the support plates may bulge toward the outside, so that the thickness of the liquid crystal layer varies.
It is an object of the invention to develop a display device of the aforementioned type in which bulging of the support plates is effectively avoided, independently of the provision of fixed symbols. Furthermore, a method of manufacturing such display devices is to be created.